This ride has become a marker in my year. A quiet checkpoint—to look back, take stock, and ask what matters. And somehow, what I write here tends to shape my path ahead.
Since last August, a lot has happened. In my life, and beyond it. There’s good news—my dad has had five clear scans. My family is healthy. That’s no small thing.
And still, we lost someone. A giant. This year is really about him.
Paul Simeon. Number 66.
If Paul was anything, he was energy. Not loud or fleeting—but the kind that gently fills a room. The kind that lifts you up. The kind that makes you feel like anything is possible. The kind the world runs on, even if we don’t always see it.
Paul lived with pancreatic cancer for three years. But more than that—he lived. Fully. Wholeheartedly. It’s hard to put into words what he meant to me. But I know I’m not the same person I was before I met him. And I won’t be again.
This weekend, we’ll return to the starting line of the Pan-Mass Challenge. Another year riding to raise money for cancer research and treatment. It’ll be my sixth with CRUS11TOUR—a movement in memory of my close friend, Davey Hovey, who had this same energy.
We all have people like this in our lives—and chances are, you’ve been that person for someone else.
It absolutely breaks my heart to say that Paul won’t be with us in body this year, but he sure as hell will be there in spirit—his energy still felt. Reminding us to get the most out of this one ride called life—no matter what it throws at us.
Our energy travels farther than we know, shaping moments we don’t always see. So I want to thank you for sharing yours. I feel it. I’m grateful for it. And I carry it with me.
I love you all.
—Carson
